This guide explains what placeholders (or merge tags) are, how they work with your Google Workspace directory, and how to use them to create dynamic and personalized email signatures.
Q1: What are placeholders?
Placeholders are special tags, also known as merge tags, that you insert into your signature template. These tags act as stand-ins for employee information. When a signature is applied to a user, the Signature Manager automatically replaces the placeholder with that specific user’s information.
For example, a placeholder like employee_name in a template will be replaced by “John Smith” in John’s signature and “Jane Doe” in Jane’s signature. This allows you to create one universal template that is automatically personalized for every employee.
Q2: Where does the placeholder information come from?
The information is pulled directly from your organization’s Google Workspace directory. Fields like:
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Name
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Title
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Department
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Employee ID
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Phone Numbers
…and more are all sourced from each user’s profile in the Google Workspace Admin console.
Important: If a field is not filled out in a user’s Google Workspace profile, the corresponding placeholder will be empty in their signature. The Signature Manager can only display the data that is available. For steps on how to Add information to a user’s Directory profile visit the this Google Workspace Admin Help article.
Q3: How do I add placeholders to my signature template?
There are two easy methods to add placeholders in the signature editor:
- Drag and Drop:
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On the side of the editor, you will see a list of available user details (e.g., “Name”, “Title”, “Employee ID”).
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Simply click and drag the desired placeholder from the list and drop it into the desired position in your signature template.
- Using the ‘Insert Merge Tag’ Button:
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Click on the Insert Merge Tag icon in the editor’s toolbar.
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A dropdown menu will appear with a complete list of available placeholders.
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Click on the placeholder you wish to insert, and it will be added to the template where your cursor is positioned.
Q4: How can I preview what the signature will look like with a real employee’s data?
The standard editor view shows the placeholder tags themselves (e.g., $${Title}$$). To see a live preview with actual data:
- On the right-hand side of the editor, find and click the View employee details button.
- A search box will appear. Type in the name of an employee you want to preview.
- Select the user from the results.
- The signature preview will now update to show that specific employee’s information as it exists in Google Workspace.
Q5: An employee’s information is missing in the preview. How do I fix this?
If you preview a signature and notice that a field (like “Employee ID” or “Title”) is blank, it means this information has not been entered for that user in Google Workspace.
Solution: A Google Workspace administrator must go to the Google Workspace Admin console, find the specific user, and update their profile by filling in the missing information under User information. Once the directory is updated, the Signature Manager will be able to pull the new data and correctly populate the signature.